What Are Your Best Money Saving Tips?

I like money. No, really. I'm sure that comes as a huge surprise, right? Times are tough and everything costs a fortune...gas, groceries, clothes, everything is so expensive. But even though everything costs more these days, um...there seems to be something missing from the equation. Like increased salaries and wages. I guess that is just too obvious? Saving money where we can helps get us by. 

I do not deserve to be featured on Coupon Diva or whatever the heck that show is called. But being cheap drives me to look for ways to save. Here's a few of my tips.

     At the grocery store  Here in Michigan we have Kroger, and wherever you live there is most likely a similar big box grocery store that probably has a rewards card like Kroger. Obviously I always use my Kroger Plus Card to get the sale prices. And for every $100/month spent in the store, I get 10 cents off/per gallon of gas at Kroger gas stations, up to $1.00 off per gallon. So if I spend $500 a month at Kroger, I can go to the gas station, scan my Kroger Plus Card at the pump, and get 50 cents off each gallon for that fill-up. Each reward can only be used once, but even still that can add up to pretty big savings. As far as coupons, I don't use them as much as I should since I don't get a newspaper. But Kroger sends me coupon booklets periodically, I save the check-out coupons, and I clip coupons from packages. Sometimes I also get coupons directly from manufacturers. I should also mention store brands. I have learned to experiment with store brand products. Some are terrible. Some I don't like but my kids don't mind. I'm kind of picky, but buying store brands when possible does help cut the grocery bill.

     Online  Everyday I get tons and tons of junk email. Like tons. But I happily weed through it because amongst the useless instantly-deleted junk there are always a few gems. I sign up for email alerts from lots of different websites so I find out right away when they're having great deals like free shipping with no minimum purchase. I also get regular emails from Groupon and other similar sites offering local deals, and some of these are offered at quite significant savings. Besides Groupon, I also recommend MyFoxHalfOff, JB Deal of the Day, SaveMore.com, CBS Local Offers, Living Social Deals, and Daily Deals. I am not an affiliate for any of these sites, but if you sign up to get email alerts you might find something useful now and again.

A word about Facebook. I "like" lots of pages for products I actually like. Many times companies offer free products, great coupons, and samples via Facebook. I get Facebook status updates from several freebie sites, like Freetail Therapy and Hip2Save. They post lots of fantastic deals on a regular basis.

     Cutting back at home  There are lots of ways to save money around the house. Little things like using towels more than once to save on water, energy, and laundry detergent, or buying re-usable sandwich containers instead of always using plastic bags. And bigger things like shopping around for better insurance, cell phone, and cable rates every once in awhile. One way many people can save a lot of money right now is by re-financing their mortgages using a website like StreamlineRefinance.net.  They are known for doing FHA Streamline Refinance and VA Streamline Refinance via Freddie Mac. 


I'd love to hear all about your best money saving tips.
 

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